Islamabad - A recent hike in fee by elite private schools has perturbed thousands of parents, compelling them to join hand to start a movement for regulatory mechanism to keep a close check on such unbridled hikes.
A group of parents whose children go to private schools in Islamabad has filed a complaint against the exorbitant rates being charged by private schools with the higher authorities on Friday.
“Private schools are now operating as a mafia,” says Shazia Rashid, a concerned mother. “The new September fee is beyond my budget,” she added. The parents say one private school hiked up the school fee to 18 percent even though inflation rate is between 5-7 percent. Unregulated and accountable heads such as registration fee is as high as Rs 50,000 and fee for second hand books being paid for by parents at the rate of Rs 17,000-19,000.
The parents whose children go to elite private schools say that they enrolled their children in those schools because quality education is not available in government schools.
According to the letter of complaint, “The Islamabad private schools cater to more than half the young population. Private schools have mushroomed in the recent decade in order to provide quality education.” The letter goes on to say that although the government of Pakistan established the Private Educational Institute’s Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) to monitor and regulate the private schooling business but “PEIRA has been completely ineffective” in the absence of a permanent chairperson.
In their complaint to the president of Pakistan, the prime minister, the education minister, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, the chief justice of the High Court Islamabad, chairman Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) and Private Educational Institute Regulatory Authority (PEIRA), parents are asking private schools to withdraw the fee challans issued in September until matters related to inflation, hidden heads and taxes are resolved to the satisfaction of the authorities as well as parents.
The parents are also demanding that parliament ought to introduce a fee regulation of private schools bill so that such issues do not recur in future.
The letter has also asked concerned authorities to issue a directive to private schools to refrain from expelling children until the government completes its investigation. Though there is no formal association of parents yet the recent constant hikes in fee structures has forced them to get together to raise a collective voice against school administrations, said Mohsin Khan, another aggrieved father. The parents have protested, earlier, on World Literacy Day (September 8) against this unregulated sector and meeting various officials to devise a mechanism to regulate them, he added.
Affected parents also vent their anger on social networking and blogging sites against the private school managements by sharing their personal experiences. “Last week I wrote an email to the principal of Froebel’s and raised some queries about multiple anonymous heads given in the fee challan. I never received any response from the school management,” wrote a father Atif Sandhu.
“They charge us more than 50% of the total tuition fee in the name of additional services which they don’t really provide. Almost Rs 20,000 charges are applied for ICT equipment that don’t really function round the year and class is also once or twice in a week. Almost Rs 15,000 per annum are charged for health and security charges with no health service or facility. There are some “other charges” worth more than Rs 25,000 per annum. I don’t understand for what they get tuition fee if they top up this fee with so many other charges.”
Another parent who also suffered the same situation wrote: “I moved one of my children from such a school and asked for refund of security and the response was that you had to give a notice of one month to get security, it is like vacating a house not transfer of a child.”
A group of concerned parents also met with the Minister of State for Education Muhammad Balighur Rehman on Friday. The minister promised to introduce legislation to regulate school fee in private schools.
The delegation of parents represented children who attend top private schools of Islamabad and was led by Advocate Aliya Agha, the legal advisor to the group of aggrieved parents High Court.
The delegation briefed the minister about their concern regarding unbridled high fee which private schools are charging. They said almost all private schools raised their fee around 20-25 percent during the current academic year and it has been a continuous trend for the past few years.
“The schools don’t inform the parents about it and due to lack of any mechanism, these schools get away with anything. They are not providing quality education for which they are charging so much, they provide substandard books which are procured by some NGOs and these schools sell these books at high prices and that too for one academic year only. The students have to return these books to the school in the next session,” said a distressed mother. Further, they added that these private schools also include income tax in their fee structures to be paid by the parents, which they are supposed to pay themselves. Minister Rahman told parents that he understood their concerns. “Private schools should not have increased their fee by so much. Every family has a budget and such sudden hikes make education less affordable.”
He went on to say that changing schools as a result of these hikes can have a psychological impact on children. “If children have to change schools because their parents cannot afford it, this has a negative effect on them.” He went on to assure parents that the ministry of education will enact legislation so that fee of schools is in line with inflation rates and “unchecked increases are not allowed.”
The delegation of parents presented their case before the minister, stating that with the inflation rate hovering between 5 to 7 percent, schools are not justified in increasing their fee for the current term by 18 percent.
The parents also informed the minister that they have attempted to persuade the administration of various private schools but have not received any formal redressal for their grievances. Indeed, the parents of children attending Head Start have also served a legal notice to the school asking for a reduction in the fee and a breakdown of costs, heads and taxes. Until then the parents will continue protest and have refused to pay the fee.
The parents have also written to concerned authorities to issue a directive to private schools to refrain them from expelling children until the government completes its investigation. The delegation of concerned parents also tried to meet with the minister of CADD Barrister Usman Ibrahim but he cancelled the meeting, according to them.
PEIRA, which falls under the jurisdiction of CADD, was established in 2006 in order to regulate the functioning of private schools. The authority that is responsible for monitoring hundreds of private schools in which over 200,000 students are enrolled has been without a permanent head since June 2013 and its employees have not been paid salaries in the current fiscal year that has brought all the work of the regulatory to a halt.